


i commit sins every day but i never give my soul away

by kelex



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 13:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22951009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: Eliot is living in his Happy Place for months while the Monster takes over, but he's never alone.
Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Kudos: 29





	i commit sins every day but i never give my soul away

It didn’t feel like it took long at all for Eliot’s Happy Place to realign. Sure, it had started out as the Physical Kids cottage, because that’s where a lot of happy memories were set, but as the shallow surface happiness started to wane, the Physical cottage morphed slowly (or perhaps, not that slowly at all, really) it became the Mosaic Cottage, complete with Quentin.

A Quentin that loved him, that raised a family with him after the wife had died, a Quentin that grew old with him. A Quentin that never died, an Eliot that never died first and left his Q alone at the Mosaic.

In the Mosaic cottage, Eliot was never afraid. He was never afraid to tell Quentin  _ I love you, Q, I really mean it _ because Quentin always smiled at him, every fucking time, because Eliot knew that Q had never really heard it before, not really.

They told each other the same stories, of Margo and Alice, Penny and Josh and Kady, and new stories Eliot made up as he went along. 

Q learned to play the lute, of all fucking things, and he would make Eliot sing for him at night, just the two of them in front of the fireplace. Eliot would sing anything Q asked for--Taylor fucking Swift, which Eliot threatened to kill Q if he told anyone Eliot knew--and Q only ever asked for happy songs.

Sometimes, Eliot would tell Q the dark things, the horrible things, the traumatic things that he’d hidden from himself as well as everyone else. And Quentin would hold him, lie beside him and spoon--or be spooned--and tell him that he didn’t care, because those were the things that had made Eliot the man he was, and Quentin loved Eliot just fine, so who cared?

He was pretty sure the real Q wouldn’t be nearly so glib. He’d stumble over his words, tuck that fucking hair behind his ear, but the meaning would be the same-- _ I love you, Eliot, all of you. _

Sometimes, when Q was asleep in the Mosaic cottage, Eliot would steel himself and he’d slip away to the throne room in Fillory, where Quentin sat beside him and tried to make his case.  _ We work. Fifty years, I mean, who gets that kind of proof of concept? _

Nobody, that’s who. 

To the Quentin in the throne room, Eliot unspooled his heart. How he’d found Quentin attractive since the first day they’d met at Brakebills, then later offering to seduce him and bang his worries away. A sincere offer, to be honest, but it was so very  _ painfully _ obvious that Quentin was a dumpster fire on two feet that could barely find his way around one gender, much less two.

How the threesome with Margo and the emotional-bottle roofies had been the first time that he’d actually kissed Quentin and really,  _ really _ liked it, so much so that he had to push Margo out of the middle and cuddle up to Quentin on his own.  _ My little Bambi, she thought it was so cute. Eliot having a little crush on the straight boy. But we both know you weren’t, not after that.  _

_ Alice, _ Quentin had said, as if that explained everything, and in a way it did.  _ And Fillory. _

Yes, because bringing Alice back had devoured Quentin’s very being for so long, and being High King of Fillory had devoured Eliot for so long, that even when they’d been together, as part of the group, they had no time for each other.

But then, the Key Quests. And the Mosaic cottage, and shit got so fucked so fast after that.

_ You better get back there before the Monsters find you. _

_ Could always count on you to have my back, Q. And I promise you, if I ever find a way back, it will be because of you. Not just in here, but out there. You will never give up on me, and I… I will endeavour to be worth it. _

_ You are. Just ask the one waiting for you at the cottage. _

Stepping back into the Mosaic cottage, Eliot sat on the edge of the bed, watching his Quentin sleep. He stroked lightly over Q’s hair, strands flopping over his face even in sleep. He fussed with the blanket, making sure it was tucked loose around his shoulders. 

_ Hey, you’re awake. _

Eliot smiled, and kissed his Q on the forehead.  _ Go on back to sleep, I just had to take a piss. Besides, you’re adorable when you snore. _

That earned Eliot a pillow to the face.  _ Come back to bed, Eliot.  _ Gingerly Q moved, so no cold air would find its way under the blanket, and soon enough Quentin was back in Eliot’s arms, tucked against Eliot’s chest and listening to the heartbeat.  _ Maybe tomorrow we’ll solve it. _

_ Maybe. _ He knew they wouldn’t, but that was fine. Another day in Heaven was just fine with him.


End file.
